An in-line skate is a type of roller skate. A typical roller skate (or quad skate) has two horizontal wheels in front and two horizontal wheels in back of the bottom of a boot with a front stopper and/or a back stopper. A typical in-line skate has two, three, four, or five wheels configured in a single-file line (or linear line) on the bottom of the boot with (or without) a front stopper and/or a back stopper. Each of the wheels of a typical in-line skate are the same size (e.g., from about 30 millimeters to about 70 millimeters in diameter). A popular brand of in-line skates is Rollerblade®.
In-line skates are designed to move on smooth surfaces. For example, an in-line skate is designed to move, roll, or otherwise travel over an arena floor, a cement sidewalk, a paved road, a smooth bike path, or other smooth and even surface. However, moving, rolling, or otherwise traveling on an uneven surface (e.g., grass, gravel, dirt, rocks, mud, snow, ice, or other) using an in-line skate is nearly impossible. On these uneven surfaces, the wheels of the in-line skate are not able to freely rotate, so the user of the in-line skate will slow-down, stop, fall, topple over, or otherwise lose control.
The present invention of an in-line skate adds one or more coupler devices and third, fourth, fifth (or more) wheels. The coupler devices and third, fourth, fifth (or more) wheels of the present invention vary in size and shape to provide stability to the in-line skate. The present invention configures the in-line skate, so that it is able to move, roll, or otherwise travel over smooth and uneven surfaces without causing the user of the in-line skate to slow-down, stop, fall, topple over, or otherwise lose control while using the in-line skate. The addition of the coupler devices and additional wheels to an in-line skate, particularly at the front end and/or back end of the in-line skate provides stability and easy rotation of the wheels over various surfaces. The present invention gives the user of the in-line skate more support to his/her ankles because the center of gravity of the user using the first coupler and/or second coupler of the present invention is lower compared to a typical in-line skate. The present invention allows the weight of the user to be split between the extra wheels at the front end and/or back end of the in-line skate (which makes the center of gravity of the user lower than the front end and/or back end of the in-line skate).